India has been great ‘oceanographic’ nation: FMBA Head of Ocean Resources Hardman Mountford

The FMBA Head of Oceans and Natural Resources, Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr Nicholas Hardman Mountford, said on December 1, 2023, that India’s role in bringing solutions to climate change is critical and termed India a great oceanographic nation.

Statement by Commonwealth Secretariat

“The ocean side, India has been a great oceanographic nation for a number of years ever since the international Indian Ocean expedition in the sixties, which founded the lab in Goa, and I have worked with many great scientists over the years and what is India doing now in terms of ocean discovery, developing a sustained blue economy, all really critical bringing the ocean in as a solution of climate change,” he said.

“So really encourage India to keep doing that. We really value the support we get from India working with a lot of our smaller countries particularly the Third World (developing, least developed states). The work they help us do in the Bahamas and Barbados, for example, and there is a real opportunity to move forward with India in a Commonwealth Blue Charter, which is the commonwealth commitment by all commonwealth countries to work together for sustainable oceans

Statement by the Sri Lankan Ambassador

The Sri Lankan Ambassador to the UAE, Udaya Indrarathna, termed India as a great neighbour and said that the COP28 Summit is a good time to be together. “UAE is organizing and holding a very important COP28 event. It is going to be a super success. We are delighted that the Indian PM Narendra Modi and our President are in town. “We have a great relationship with India. They are our great neighbour. It is a really good time to be together,” he said.

COP28 Event

Under the presidency of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Cop28 event will be held from November 30 to December 12. PM Modi participated in the World Climate Summit, the high-level segment of the COP28 to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change. (UNFCC) on December 1, 2023. This is PM Modi’s third visit to the World Climate Action Summit after his visits to Paris and Glasgow in 2015 and 2021, respectively.

PM Modi on Global South

During his UAE visit, PM Modi noted that Climate Change had an immense impact on the Global South countries. Climate finance and technology are essential to fulfil the Global South’s aspirations. He also underlined those nations and countries coming under the banner of Global South, including India, have a smaller role to play in climate change on them is immense.